Post job

Cyber security engineer vs software developer

The differences between cyber security engineers and software developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a cyber security engineer, becoming a software developer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a cyber security engineer has an average salary of $99,492, which is higher than the $87,521 average annual salary of a software developer.

The top three skills for a cyber security engineer include cyber security, python and linux. The most important skills for a software developer are java, python, and C++.

Cyber security engineer vs software developer overview

Cyber Security EngineerSoftware Developer
Yearly salary$99,492$87,521
Hourly rate$47.83$42.08
Growth rate32%21%
Number of jobs73,419294,329
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age4239
Years of experience64

What does a cyber security engineer do?

A cyber security engineer specializes in designing and establishing security measures to protect a company's network and data from hackers or cyber attacks. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around planning and implementing cyber security systems, responding to any problems or concerns, handling security breaches and emergencies, and troubleshooting to identify any issues or vulnerabilities. Moreover, a cyber security engineer may perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and documentation, creating instructional materials for systems, managing schedules, and coordinating with department managers, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.

What does a software developer do?

A software developer is responsible for designing application systems to support the user and business' needs. Duties of a software developer include testing software codes, performing diagnostic programs and troubleshooting, interpreting system data and establishing efficient parameters, and ensuring the compatibility of the systems. A software developer must have an excellent knowledge of computer programs and programming languages to understand its complexities, especially on detecting system defects and malfunctions. A software developer must have strong attention to detail, communication, and decision-making skills to coordinate with the team and also work independently under minimal supervision.

Cyber security engineer vs software developer salary

Cyber security engineers and software developers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Cyber Security EngineerSoftware Developer
Average salary$99,492$87,521
Salary rangeBetween $75,000 And $131,000Between $67,000 And $113,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyDotdashThe Citadel
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between cyber security engineer and software developer education

There are a few differences between a cyber security engineer and a software developer in terms of educational background:

Cyber Security EngineerSoftware Developer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillHarvard University

Cyber security engineer vs software developer demographics

Here are the differences between cyber security engineers' and software developers' demographics:

Cyber Security EngineerSoftware Developer
Average age4239
Gender ratioMale, 83.8% Female, 16.2%Male, 79.3% Female, 20.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 29.9% White, 52.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage9%8%

Differences between cyber security engineer and software developer duties and responsibilities

Cyber security engineer example responsibilities.

  • Facilitate and manage weekly meetings between CyberCom, DISA and all OSD components.
  • Manage security patching life cycle and approve change control requests, firewall rules and DLP policies.
  • Manage, configure, and maintain all servers within the environments, including Cisco network routers, switches, and firewalls.
  • Lead security authorization efforts to obtain and maintain an authorization to operate (ATO) for customers' core financial system.
  • Manage efforts to consolidate customer VPN infrastructure.
  • Lead numerous DLP upgrades and process improvements and successfully implement application security program.
  • Show more

Software developer example responsibilities.

  • Restructure the project code in repository and use maven to manage project dependencies.
  • Used JIRA to manage and track the issues report by QA and prioritize and take action base on the severity.
  • Develop the front-end web page by using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, taking advantage of the frameworks Angular.JS.
  • Lead team and develop UNIX administrative and maintenance development tasks, supporting customer requirements.
  • Configure custom PL/SQL database to manage new database objects including triggers, user-define functions and store procedures.
  • Implement a centralize configuration system for managing application settings, consisting of a desktop application with a WCF backend.
  • Show more

Cyber security engineer vs software developer skills

Common cyber security engineer skills
  • Cyber Security, 17%
  • Python, 5%
  • Linux, 4%
  • Architecture, 4%
  • NIST, 4%
  • Incident Response, 4%
Common software developer skills
  • Java, 11%
  • Python, 9%
  • C++, 7%
  • Software Development, 6%
  • JavaScript, 5%
  • Database, 5%

Browse computer and mathematical jobs